Americans without science

The perfect example of the lack of any true understanding of science by the rank and file in America ...

There are thousands of kids not getting vaccinated against common illnesses and the problem has become so large that some diseases, thought to be eradicated, have returned. Many of these are debilitating and some can be fatal. Why has this occurred? It has been traced to an overwhelming fear of autism due to the vaccination process. One study, out of thousands, linked the two events. Since that study, which has been withdrawn by the authors, a combination of things has happened to perpetuate the myth. First, there is a distrust of health-related organizations (government, hospitals, insurance companies) that leads to speculation that the paper had somehow been suppressed or that the withdrawal was coerced. Further, this mis-reporting of scientific studies adds to the lack of faith in scientific reports. The scientific process, that most folks do not understand, allows a back and forth understanding of the problem being studied. Experiments are reproduced or not. Theories are amended with new information. If one does not understand the process they say things like "It used to be that eggs were bad for you. Now they say they are good. Who should I believe?" Add to that the soapbox of various celebrities that preach no vaccines, such as Jenny McCarthy and Suzanne Sommers. These folks have no clue about science and no understanding of the issues or history of studying and trying to be lay experts. They use their celebrity status to preach in a way not too different from the old snake oil salesmen.

Many of these diseases carry real risks that can be quantified in terms of deaths per thousand cases or paralysis per thousand cases, etc. Since there is no statistical link between autism and vaccines, a similar risk cannot be quantified. That is science. What we do know is that the rate of autism in the general population does not even warrant such decisions not to vaccinate because if all autism was due to vaccines, the risk of having autism would still be lower by taking a vaccine than the risk of getting the preventable disease.

Finally, the "preachers" preach about mercury in the vaccines. With only a few exceptions, mercury has been removed from vaccines since the turn of the century. The few that have it, do have it at very low levels.

Is it really worth the risk to listen to non-scientists on this one?